CONTRIBUTION TO THE ACTION PLAN
Title of the suggested Action:
INTEGRATED R&D FUNCTION OF THE NiCAT CLUSTER
Subtitle (or short description in one sentence):
Using international financial and professional support to establish an integrated research and development function within the NiCAT cluster – Nis (Serbia) Cluster of Advanced Technologies
Description of the Action (approx. 1 page):
The set of SMEs constituting NiCAT have their own production programs, marketing concepts, and production facilities. In some cases the production is related to existing products where the research and development activities are reduced. In other cases the amount of profit gained is not sufficient to cover R&D expenses. Even transfer of knowledge among partners from within the cluster is difficult since no services and rules are established for that.
Functions like taking care of standardization, quality control, sustainability, work safety, energy efficiency, andintellectual property protection, are exercisedsporadically and without a common control. Access to scientific and R&D information is strongly limited. In addition, a common function that will support preparation applications for public, domestic and international, calls and tenders is seen of paramount importance. We will refer to all these of functions as the informational functions.
There are some activities in the R&D sphere that may be common for most of the participants such as electrical and electronic measurement instruments and testers, mechanical testers, advanced mechanical machines, optoelectronic measurement and testing equipment, chemical analysis equipment, and so on. None of them exists and no staff is allocated to be specialized fully and/or partly for such work.
What is especially missing is certified laboratories for many aspect of the industrial life related to the production.We will refer to all these of functions as the infrastructural functions.
A special aspect of the R&D developments is connections with the Universities. Two faculties of the University of Niš are members of NiCAT but with no participation fees and no voting capacity since they are government owned. There are no concepts of bilateral knowledge transfer. In this moment thanks to the historical circumstances the University is in a better position for access to someone else’s knowledge and for production of its own new knowledge. That is to be exploited by NiCAT.
Collaboration with existing national institutions such as The National Library, The National Institute for Intellectual Property Protection, and governmental agencies being in charge for some specific topics,is now practically out of question.
To partly overcome these difficulties we propose an integrated R&D function to be established for the cluster. It is supposed to belong to the management body of the cluster and to be used by all members. It should be established in several phases: Phase 1.Legal definition; Phase 2. Establishment of common R&D function based on existing capacities of separate partners; Phase 3. Establishment a common service related to informational functions; Phase 4. Improving the R&D technological infrastructure and establishment of common certified laboratories; Phase 5. Establishment of a common research institute.
For the realization of the project resources will be needed to cover all kinds of activities starting with premises, office equipment, staff, and measurement equipment. Training and literature supplying is also necessary. There will be also a need for organizational support given by governmental and nongovernmental bodies as well as by some industrial partners.
References to running activities, lessons learnt from other regions, etc. (one paragraph):
Being aware of the importance of the subject the NiCAT Cluster Management started several activities. First, plan of professional meetings of the cluster members was produced in order to create a complete overview of the capacities and ambitions available. Second, special presentations of the faculties being members of the cluster were organized where the research and R&D capacities of the faculties were presented in much detail. Finally, applications were submitted for IPA funds in order to get international collaboration on bilateral basis. A project was already approved in which The Faculty of Economics that is not a member of the cluster is the main partner and a Bulgarian cluster is partner from abroad. To promote and to learn the NiCAT management is participating to as many meetings related to the subject as possible being proactive whenever possible.
Actors to be involved in the implementation and their roles (max. half a page):
The NICAT cluster is a regional organization per se. Members of the cluster are SMEs (21 enterprises), research organizations (The faculties of Electronic and Mechanical Engineering of Niš) , and Serbian regional governmental and nongovernmental institutions (The Regional Chamber of Commerce Nis, The Office for Local Economic Development, and The Regional Development Association South). It is important to note that it covers its expenses from the membership fees of the members.
Note that NiCAT is running for a year only. There is a strongly expressed interest by several industrial players in the region to join the cluster. The cluster members are acting for attracting new members, too. We expect the number of members to be risen in the near future so rising both the capacities and the needs for integration of the R&D function.
Main actors in the project will be the NiCAT cluster and its members including the members from University of Nis. The Ministry of Economy (e.g. Sector for Infrastructure for Quality Assurance) including its agency for development of SMEs is expected to support this project. Similar support we do expect from the Ministry for Environmental Protection (e.g. energy efficiency and electromagnetic compatibility). Support from the local authorities is expected, too.
Main actors in the project will be the NiCAT cluster and its members while we expect collaboration with similar organizations in Novi Sad, Belgrade and Kragujevac. In addition our partners (clusters) from Bulgaria and Hungary are expected to participate. Finally, support by German, and European partners is expected.
Expected impact (one paragraph):
Integration of the R&D activities of the NiCAT will enable implementation of many advanced concepts both in informational and infrastructural functions. A platform will be established for transfer of knowledge and information between members and the outer world. Technological independence will be established in subjects that are too expensive for separate companies to afford. It will rise the quality of the existing products and enable development of new ones. Among the important aspects of the subject is the rise of the local professional aspirations which were totally destroyed in the past period. A specific aspect of the subject is the employment of young talented engineers and economists so slowing down the migrative processes that are evident for a long period now. Finally, we expect influence to the teaching curriculum via internships and via consultations between industry and academia.
Relevance to the WBC region (one paragraph):
The town of Niš was well known in the region by its electronic industry. The rise of NiCAT from the ashes of former Elektronska Industrija, which was employing about thirteen thousand employees in Niš only, has a symbolical importance for regeneration of the region of South East Serbia (SES). We firstly expect regeneration of other centers of electronic production in SES (Pirot, Babušnica, Kruševac, Dušnik, Ražanj, Knjaževac, Prokuplje, and similar). On the other side, we already have inquiries from former and new partners asking for products that were known being from Niš. We expect that in the near future NiCAT will straighten the "weekest link" in the technological chain in the field of advanced technologies in WBC and will help establishment of a balanced industrial production. That we think will rise the competitivness of WBC in the field of advanced technologies and, in the same time, will attract investors from other regions to collaborate with locals.
Name, affiliation, contact details (but you may also submit contributions anonymous)
Author:
Prof. Vančo Litovski
President of the Board
NiCAT Cluster
+38163563555